The Doll That Flunked

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Romans 8:30

When my wife was a little girl she loved to play with dolls. I have her doll chest from many years ago in which she packed them away carefully when she grew older. One of the games she played was doll school with her as teacher. She must have had very high standards because in every school session she flunked one of the dolls. The same doll each time.

I asked her, since it was all pretense, why she picked a doll that would fail. She told me that her doll school was like real life. Someone would fail. I think of her as so realistic as a child that she played this way. Perhaps the failing doll didn't do her home work. Maybe she didn't pay attention in class, but the teacher decided who would not pass.

I speak of this endearing fantasy to illustrate one of the Bible doctrines that many do not accept. Perhaps most people do not, as it seems so harsh and condemning. That is, that the Creator determined the fate of each of us before we were born, before the world was made. Some "dolls" would fail. The Eastern concept of Kismet expresses it well.

Oh the howls of protest! I know, because I once was one of the howlers. I believe Americans are particularly prone to objecting on the basis of our bred-in idea of Self-Determination, one of the most sacred of sacred cows.

That many otherwise nice people will not even discuss the matter, to defend it with other than anger, indicates fear to me. It is as if anger, or reluctance, is our turtle's shell in which we withdraw for safety. After all, do we not have a "constitutional right" to determine our own courses?

Some say, like one of my dear Baptist friends, that God fore sees how we will use our free will, as if to try to comprimise with the sovereignty of God. Scripture is definite on the subject for those willing to believe it. I know the robot argument, as I once used it myself.

Also in my wife's doll chest is a walking doll which she really loved. She would hold its hand and it would walk with her. There is a doll I can identify with. For I cannot walk unless God provides the power and guidance. His hand guides me, as He does with us all. Without Him I would never have walked at all.